Chapter 360: Planning for house arrest

"After Liang Hong returned to Beijing, Liu Jin immediately took him into the palace, summoned the cabinet and the six ministers and nine ministers, and accused them in public that the horses of Bazhou, who were the masters, were arrogant and unruly, refused to be a stubborn official, and could not obey the military discipline and restraint, so they stood up and rebelled. These people were familiar with the situation of the military camp, attacked and killed the garrison of the thief camp, seized the armory, and occupied the city of Bazhou. These are the situations we know at present."

In front of him was a man dressed in an ordinary soldier. The emperor issued an order to put Yang Ling under house arrest. This imperial edict was still subject to obey, so Yang Ling's spy had to wear Song Xiaoai's officers and soldiers' costumes and sneak in to report the situation.

Cheng Qiyun frowned and asked, "Zheng Heyi, what is the situation in Bazhou?"

Zheng Heyi, a spy from the inner factory in front of him, said with a look of distress: "Second-level head, Bei Zhi has just sent someone to Bazhou to investigate. As for the situation, I don't know yet."

Cheng Qiyun said unhappily: "I have handed over all the affairs of the important places of Beijing and Shipeng to you. Why can't I even ask about such little information?"

Zheng Heyi said nervously: "Second Tier, there are about 3,500 capable people who have left the inner factory. Most of them have been transferred to Liaodong, Jiangnan and southern Fujian, and there are less than 200 people left in Hebei. Most of them are used to find out the news in the capital and ensure the safety of the Duke. Xiaoxiaobazhou has not taken it into consideration."

Cheng Qiyun knew that he was telling the truth. She said that the Inner Factory had only more than 2,000 capable people. Even if there were 20,000, there would be no signs of people when the huge country was spread. The little Bazhou had never been the focus of their attention. In addition, after the Third Factory and One Guard fell into Liu Jin's hands, the Inner Factory had to be careful in the area near the Gyeonggi in Hebei, in order to prevent this mysterious force from being discovered.

Even if he never took Bazhou seriously, he could not be a predecessor, so why did he be strangers? Now, because he was annoyed that Yang Ling was under house arrest and was somewhat blamed, so he just hummed slightly and said nothing more.

Yang Ling smiled gently and said, "Not Xiao Zheng, who would have thought that Liu Jin and I were here to play Tai Chi pushers, and a civil war in Xiaoxiaobazhou would actually affect the situation?"

With a slightly lowered smile, he pondered again: "The thief surrendered, and it should have been arranged properly. I have tried my best to place them in scattered place, but they are all locals in Bazhou. There are only a few hundred people in total. It is easy to divide them on purpose, and it is easy to get along in a moment.

Alas, Zhang Mao has a net worth of billions, Liu Liu, Liu Qi, Xing Laohu and others also have families. After they have lost their case and have been appointed as official positions, they will be forced to rebel by just a few hundred people because they do not uphold military discipline. There must be other feelings in the inner world. If they can find the reason for their rebellion, it may be the reason for me to escape from the crime."

Zheng Heyi said with emotion: "Since that's the case, I will go to Bazhou immediately and be sure to find out the real news."

Yang Ling nodded, shook his head again, closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, and sighed: "If I could stay in Bazhou for a few more days, there would be no such storm. Unfortunately, man's calculations are not as good as God's calculations. The Empress Dowager died suddenly, leaving me with only three days. I will deal with all the corrupt officials in Bazhou within three days and recruit the Bazhou Xiangmath.

Alas, I went to Beijing to deploy and deal with Liu Jin with all my energy. All my energy was placed on the capital. Whoever had the magic trick would have expected that the small little Bazhou would have a small land... but it would have a big leak."

He glanced at Zheng Heyi and said, "You don't have to hurry to leave. There are still two people coming later. Wait until I arrange it and you can go with them."

After a while, Song Xiaoai brought two soldiers in and bowed and said, "Duke".

Although the two soldiers were dressed in ordinary clothes, they looked extraordinary and were majestic. They were not in line with an ordinary soldier. One had a fair face and beautiful face, and the other was the cavalry guard Wu Hanchao, and the other was a bit more burly. He was a little calmer than Wu Hanchao. He was Xu Tai, the leader of the generals of the four armies outside the capital.

The two of them took a step forward in unison and bowed: "I am humble in charge of the general and the Duke of the State."

Yang Ling nodded and smiled at the two loving generals and said, "You don't have to be polite when you sit down."

The two of them sat down, and Yang Ling said to Xu Tai first: "I heard that the emperor ordered you to lead your troops to Bazhou to quell the rebellion?"

Xu Tai was straight and pressed his knees with his hands, fully showing the temperament of a soldier, and replied respectfully: "Yes, I wonder what the deputy commander has to give?"

Zhu Shou, the commander of the four foreign armies, is the mighty general of the emperor and the deputy commander is Yang Ling. However, these two generals have had a lot of things recently, and the four foreign armies have nothing to do, but they are just daily training matters, so they rarely come to teach. The second-tier leader of the former inner factory is now in the Liaodong army, and Peng Jizu serves as the deputy general under Xu Tai.

Yang Ling said: "The people of Bazhou are fierce and the people are martial. They have been raising horses for the court for a hundred years. The people have extremely superb horse skills. I have seen more than a hundred horse thieves charge forward with their own eyes. The momentum is as good as I expected. The combat power is only higher than that of the Tatar cavalry outside the pass. Although they have few people, they are familiar with local terrain figures. When you go to suppress the bandits, you must not be careless."

Xu Tai really didn't take the thousand rebels into his eyes. Hearing Yang Ling's careful order, he hurriedly said: "As for orders, the emperor mobilized four foreign troops and summoned the emperor to personally, and wanted to quell the rebellion as soon as possible. Many officials in the court accused the deputy general of reprimanding the traitor, led the wolf into the house, and asked the emperor to hold the deputy general accountable.

The deputy commander was relieved and looked at the humble position. The emperor was so cautious that he had to quell the more than a thousand riots, and he used the elite of the capital army to quell the rebellion as soon as possible and reduce the impact of the matter. He turned big and small matters into small matters, so as to avoid the responsibility of the Duke. When he went to Bazhou, he would do his best to quell the rebellion as soon as possible with the force of plowing the court and sweeping the caves, and rescue the deputy commander from the misfortune."

Yang Ling nodded and pointed at Zheng Heyi and said, "This is one of my subordinates, you will take it with you too. I suspect that the horses in Bazhou will surrender and rebel, so there must be hidden information. You will go here and try to find out the reason."

Cheng Qiyun's eyes moved and she interrupted, "Sir, if the rebellion of Xiangmao is really different, you should look for someone who is familiar with it to come back to Beijing to take evidence. If the job is not as expected, Liang Hong should be the one who knows the truth. If the rebellion of Xiangmao is not bad, there is another secret, such as being a thief to be an official. If the rebellion of Xiangmao is despised and coerced, and extortion of money is common. Since Liu Jin wants to use this as a reason to attack the adult, he will not be able to win the trust of others if he speaks without any words."

Yang Ling woke up with a word and pondered for a moment, saying, "Yes, what he said is reasonable. Xu Tai, the Bazhou Promoter Hua Yu. He is honest and loyal. If the thief is indeed blackmailed by someone and is forced to rebel again, you can invite the Hua Promoter back to the capital to be a witness."

"Yes, but it is said that Bazhou City has been lost, and it is still unknown whether the Huatui official has died. If the Huatui official has unfortunately died, who can still use it?"

"Those officials are in the beginning and end. Now that I am under house arrest, Liu Jin is in the limelight again. I am afraid that those officials may not dare to testify. I have great kindness to Mu Jing, a student of Gu'an County. If this person knows the details, he will definitely help me. Unfortunately, he may not know about the matter in Bazhou... By the way, there is also Jiang Bin! Jiang Bin, my old friend, is also Zhang Mao's cousin. He once helped me persuade Zhang Mao to surrender. If Zhang Mao rebels again, he may know the reason.

This person is not sure that he will not rebel, and there is no news of this person being rebelled from the news that he sent back. You should act according to the opportunity. If you can find him, you can become a witness to the advantage. If this person is not found, then... you have to act according to the opportunity."

Watching Xu Tai take Zheng Heyi out. Wu Hanchao bowed and said, "Sir, what do you need to do in a humble position?"

Yang Ling's relaxed expression disappeared, and he stood up and said in a deep voice: "Hanchao, there is really a big thing you want to do this time. Liu Jin is a disaster to the country and the people, and it is very harmful. Whether he can get rid of this treacherous slander depends on you!"

A sharp look flashed across Wu Hanchao's face, and a solemn cold air oozed out from the candlelight. He replied sternly: "Mr. I understand the humble position. Every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the country. Whether it is for the Ming Dynasty or the safety of the Lord, I, Wu Hanchao, have no hesitation except Liu Jin! I don't know when I want me to take action. Hanchao will die and will assassinate the old thief Liu Jin under the sword!"

Yang Ling was stunned: "Assassination? Who wants you to assassinate Liu Jin?"

Wu Hanchao was stunned when he heard this, and said suspiciously: "Don't you want to get rid of the old thief Liu Jin?"

Cheng Qiyun smiled and said, "Idiot, now everyone in the world knows that the adults are in a bad relationship with Liu Jin. Liu Jin is assassinated, who is the target of the spearhead? Besides, this is not a confrontation between the two armies. As a court official, assassination and elimination of political enemies, I will never be able to rest in this life. Once one day it is exposed by accident, isn't it a disaster for the family to be destroyed?"

Wu Hanchao's face turned red and he said in a naughty way: "That adult means...?"

Yang Ling looked him up and down and said to Cheng Qiyun: "Yun'er, are you sure?"

Cheng Qiyun walked to Wu Hanchao, pinched his shoulders, held up his chin, and looked up with charming eyes. Song Xiaoai was a little impatient when she saw it: Cheng Qiyun is not an adult..., why did she tease Xiao Wu?

Miss Song widened her almond eyes and didn't know how to scold her. After a moment of shock, Wu Hanchao also reacted and said juicyly: "Here...... Here the second gear, what are you doing?"

But Cheng Qiyun looked back at Yang Ling and smiled, saying, "Sir, General Wu has just arrived at the Ministry of War, and there are very few people in the capital who know him. Besides, pretending to be a servant, few people are paying attention to him. I am sure to change his appearance for him."

Her eyes turned, Yingying looked at Song Xiaoai with a slightly flushed face and said, "Except for people who are very close to him such as General Song, even if they meet each other, others may not recognize him."

"Okay!" Yang Ling said happily: "The Caval Cavalry Guard Wu Hanchao will take leave and return home from tomorrow, and will last for a month. Xiao Wu, I will compromise you as a sedan chair bearer for a while!"

At Liu Jin's mansion, Zhang Wenmian and Liu Jin were discussing secretly in the study.

Liu Jin laughed and said, "This is really auspicious person who has a heavenly appearance. Yang Ling wants to overthrow our family, but he has been rebelled by the sound of the horse thief. This is really a cocoon."

Seeing that he looked overjoyed, Zhang Wenmian said, "Mr. Liu, it's not the time to be happy. Xu Tai's army has gone to Bazhou. Didn't you tell others about the situation we are discussing?"

Liu Jin picked up the tea and took a sip, and said with a smile: "No, no, I know that the fewer people in the land are, the better. Even if we are brothers in our land, there is no need to tell him to know."

Zhang Wenmian felt relieved and said with a smile: "That's good. Bazhou's rebellion is just an opportunity. We have to take advantage of the victory to chase the opportunity and expand this opportunity, which will make Yang Ling lose his title and dismiss his post. It is best to be exiled to serve as a military force and eliminate future troubles forever."

Liu Jin also sneered and said, "That's natural. More than a thousand rioters rebelled, and the emperor didn't take it seriously. He only put Yang Ling under house arrest and sent other people to take care of him. He clearly wanted to quell the rebellion as soon as possible and to make him lose his crimes. This time the military supervisor was Liang Hong, and our family had secretly asked him to hold Xu Tai's back. Our family could also delay money, grain and supplies. We must let this group of robbers make the matter big, so big that even the emperor could not shelter Yang Ling. Hum......"

Zhang Wenmian nodded and thought carefully and said, "Liang Hong blackmailed the thief of the horses and horses is not an open and upright matter. Liang Hong did not openly and the horses and horses and horses would not ask for officials who looked down on them, so few people should know about forcing them to rebel. Now all the officials in the court are afraid of the letters in your hands and dare not force Liu Gong. Liu Gongzheng is good at taking this opportunity to completely defeat Yang Ling, so that he has no chance to turn over."

Liu Jin nodded with a smile, and at this time the door hurried in and reported: "Grandpa Lu is here."

Liu Jin was just when people were in a happy mood when they heard this, and he smiled and said, "Oh, Mr. Lu is here? Please invite him in quickly."

In the second door, Lu Shijie walked out of the sedan chair, brushed his robe, and said, "I'll go to see Mr. Liu, the second housekeeper, and arrange a place for the sedan chairmen. I'll live in Mr. Liu's mansion today."

Lu Shijie is a popular man in front of Liu Jin. He often lives in the mansion, so the second housekeeper didn't think about it. Lianxin smiled and said, "Yes, yes, please come in, you will arrange these small things."

The four sedan chairmen carried the empty sedan chair and followed the second housekeeper to the servant's room. The four sedan chairmen were all good young men, one of which was tall and handsome and thick-eyed, and while carrying the empty sedan chair, he carefully observed the situation around him.

Liu Jin's private residence is not qualified to have someone to send people to guard the house, but Liu Jin hired many servants to protect the house. In order to please him, the scum of the Jinyiwei sent the Jinyiwei to guard the outside and guard the house. The defense is not bad. However, the defense work has always been tight on the outside and loose on the inside. No one is covered with guards in the backyard of his own house. Once he entered these two doors, there were not many people except ordinary maids and servants.

The surrounding houses, roads, corner gates and all are exactly the same as those drawn by Lu Shijie. Wu Hanchao has long remembered them. At this time, he mainly observed the characters coming and going, the specific distance between various buildings, including the height of the house walls, the rockery between the houses, the flowerbeds and places where they can hide their whereabouts.

Lu Shijie originally had four fixed sedan chairmen, but the one who was responsible for lifting the curtains made some mistakes. When the sedan chair arrived at the construction site, Mr. Lu was not careful when he got out of the sedan chair, and he tripped himself up. Mr. Lu was a gentle scholar. He lost such a big face in front of the servants and was so angry that he left the sedan chairmen.

Mr. Lu always looked higher than his head when he walked, and he didn't look at his feet. The construction site was bumpy. Who could blame this? The sedan chair was in trouble, but a servitude worker next to him was acting frivolously, and quickly threw the stone and snatched it up. When Mr. Lu was happy, he pointed him as his sedan chair. This man was Xiao Wu, now called Xiao Guan.

When the head of the sedan chair saw Wu Hanchao looking around, he called out, "Xiaoguan, there are many rules for wealthy families, don't look around. Let's go, Mr. Liu's food is fragrant. Even if we are bitter, we can drink some wine. Let's have a few drinks later."

Xiao Guan hurriedly smiled and said, "Okay, it's my turn. It's so beautiful when I see such a big house."

When the second housekeeper heard this, he sneered, looked at him disdainfully, and said with a smile: "Boy, just go ahead and see, beautiful? This is the servant house. If you see our Liu Gong's residence, hehe, it is a paradise on earth."

When Liu Jin saw Lu Shijie coming in, he greeted him with a smile: "Young Master Lu, how is the progress in Xuanming Palace?"

Lu Shijie said: "Don't worry, Mr. Liu, the main hall can be built in May at the latest."

Liu Jin was overjoyed and said, "That's good, that's good. At that time, please ask the emperor and the empress dowager to celebrate the success of Xuanming Palace. This is a great achievement for our family."

Lu Shijie said caringly: "Mr. Liu, these are all trivial matters. Xiaoke is worried about the general trend of the court. He threatened the officials with letters and congratulations, although the officials did not stand on the side of Yangling. However, the more Xiaoke thought about it, the more he felt a little worried. The officials were so afraid of their father-in-law, and the trouble would be caused sooner or later. The father-in-law should prepare for it."

Liu Jin smiled and said, "I hate that there are too many people in our family, so what's the point of adding a few more people? It doesn't matter if I hate me, he has to have the ability to overthrow me. Looking at the government and the country, there is only Yang Ling now. And Yang Ling... Humph, if the war in Bazhou is not over, he will be finished. Without Yang Ling, no one else has taken it into our eyes."

When Lu Shijie heard something in Liu Jin's words, he felt unconscious: Liu Jin dared to take the blame for the world and used his power to deliberately expand the war in Bazhou in order to accuse the Duke of the State?

Lu Shijie was so excited, but he could never ask such words. He, Liu Jin and Zhang Wenmian returned to his seats. Then he said sincerely: "Mr. Liu, Xiaoke came here today for this matter. According to Xiaoke's opinion, he intimidated all officials and took kindness and power at the same time. This is the long-term plan.

Xiaoke said something, Wen Mian must have known that when Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Xiu, attacked Wang Lang, he also obtained thousands of books, calligraphy, paintings, poems and rituals that his ministers usually interacted with Wang Lang. All the officials in the court were frightened, some wanted to escape, some wanted to fight to the death, and some even connected with each other, intending to rebel openly.

And what about Emperor Guangwu of Han? He burned all the torches in public, indicating that all officials and Wang Lang were interacting with each other, no matter what the reason was. The civil and military officials were both ashamed and grateful. Many people knelt in front of him and cried and repented. Since then, they have no other intentions.”

Zhang Wenmian nodded repeatedly and said, "No, good, this is recorded in history books, and students know it too. Mr. Lu means to destroy all letters to calm people's hearts? But... Liu Xiu burned the ground as a letter left by Wang Lang. Liu Gong privately accumulated letters from all officials. Now he has burned himself. Can it attract people's hearts?"

Lu Shijie said: "No, Xiaoke's meaning is not to let the father-in-law destroy the letters of officials, but to have letters of communication between officials in his hands, which will inevitably lead to resentment from all officials. Even if he is obviously afraid to make things difficult for his father-in-law, it will be bad for him to passively and neglect his orders in the future.

What I mean is that my father-in-law might as well take out the letter box and let Xiaoke and Wen Mian check it out. Those who have high positions and some letters are divided into one and keep them alone. If the letters are selected with lower official positions, the contents of the letters are not enough to threaten the other party and form another. When Yang Ling is defeated and no longer becomes a threat, return the letters of these people to them.

Then we let the outside world say that these people are loyal to their father-in-law, so they give them a letter. In this way, these officials will be grateful. Other officials must also be loyal to their father-in-law, hoping that one day, their father-in-law will return their handles to them. This way, fishing with bait is better than complete coercion and threatening, and will divide those people."

Zhang Wenmian pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "What Mr. Lu said is reasonable, one hit and one pull, one tight and one loose, which is the best way to control people, and Mr. Liu may as well adopt it."

When Liu Jin saw that both think tanks were saying this, he happily said: "Okay, let's listen to you, butler? Call the butler and take out the secret box."

After a moment, Liu Jin's relatives, Liu Erhan, who is currently the steward of the Liu Mansion, hurried over. After listening to Liu Jin's instructions, he hurriedly pushed open the bookshelf next to him, revealing a small copper door on the wall. Liu Erhan took out a bunch of keys from his waist, picked up a huge earth key, and penetrated into the tiger's mouth of the copper door.

When Lu Shijie saw this, a strange and inexplicable color flashed in his eyes...

Xu Tai's army finally arrived in Bazhou. Looking at the area of ​​Cangyi, the entire Bazhou city had completely changed after the war. There were people who fled with the elderly and the children everywhere, and they did not calm down because Xu Tai's army had arrived.

Liang Hongxian led his men back to his garrison palace, and saw that the originally magnificent mansion had turned into a flat ground, with smoke rising from the ruins, and he couldn't help but jump and curse.

Liang Hong was cursing and shouting. Two people came over sneakily. When the soldiers shouted, Liang Hong immediately avoided the officers and soldiers, stared at them with both eyes and looked at them. He saw that the two men were covered in dust, like a pair of little ghosts, jumping at him and shouting, "Eunuch Liang, Liang Zhenguan. We are Hu Bantou of the Prefectural Office, Du Bantou, my name is Du Xingyuan. Do you still remember? The Prefectural Office invites you to drink, which is the post we sent."

Liang Hong had some impression after hearing this, and looked carefully and said tremblingly: "Okay... It seems they are, bringing them here, wait. Search and search first!"

The two squad leaders were searched and then escorted to the front of the soldiers. The two squad leaders came to the front, knelt there with a "pop" and cried loudly: "Father-in-law. You want to avenge us. Xiangma stole the city, and Bazhou has been looted..."

"Say! Who burned my house?"

"Say! Where is the thief now?"

Liang Hong and Xu Tai shouted in unison.

Du Xingyuan wiped his big face and said with a sad face: "We don't know who burned it. We don't know where the horse thieves were. Bazhou City was broken, and officials such as the magistrate, Tongzhi, and Prosecutor all died in the battle at the top of the city. Jiang Guerrilla captured Bazhou City, and then they were broken again, burning and killing the world in chaos.

The young men changed into the clothes of the people and then escaped their lives. Now the soldiers are in chaos, and the horses are recruiting soldiers to buy horses and robbing everywhere. I don’t know where the guerrilla soldiers in the river went. The young men, oh oh oh oh oh...... all my children, my mother, are gone, ah ah...."

When Zheng Heyi heard that Hua Tui was killed in battle, his heart sank and shouted: "Don't cry. General Xu was ordered by the emperor and sent troops to Bazhou to quell the rebellion and eliminate the thieves of the horses. Let's tell you everything you know!"

Du Xingyuan stopped crying when he shouted, and then he told him what he knew.

It turned out that when Zhang Mao and others attacked the city that night, it was impossible for Bazhou City to be defended. Except for the inspection department and the three yamen runners, there are no available personnel in the city. However, as the leader of a state, you can only defend and not retreat. You would rather die in battle. If you dare to escape, you will be destined to be the fate of Shangcai Shikou.

Therefore, the new magistrate had to lead all the officials to fight in the city. Hua Tui Guan limped onto the city wall before he was healed. The horse thieves all hooked up and climbed the land with treasure hooks, and the cloud ladders obtained from the robbery camp. The walls of Bazhou were not high, and they could not take care of them at all. After an hour, the horses attacked the city and began to set fire everywhere, then opened the city gate and introduced a large group of people. The first catastrophe in Bazhou City began.
To be continued...